


Blinding Pain

by WolfKomoki



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen, Pain, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-02-17 13:15:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13077642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfKomoki/pseuds/WolfKomoki
Summary: After Prometheus lets Oliver go, he captures Barry next. Determined to break the speedster, Prometheus decides to torture him. As Prometheus continues to push Barry to his limits, Barry is finding it harder and harder to come back the next time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Flash and Arrow are owned by the CW.  
> Warning! This story contains graphic depictions of torture.

          When Barry wakes up, the first thing he feels is cold. Wherever he was, it was quiet. Eventually, he opens his eyes, and that’s when he sees the power dampening cuffs around his wrists. Barry tries to move his legs only to realize that he’d been attached to power dampening chains as well. Whoever had taken him must know that he’s the Flash, otherwise, they wouldn’t know to take these precautions if they wanted to keep him here.

          “Well, now, you certainly took your sweet time waking up. I was worried that I’d killed you.” The voice chuckles. As the person gets closer, Barry’s eyes widened when he recognized who it was.

          “Prometheus.” Barry realizes.

          “Ah, so you do know Oliver. I was wondering about that.” Prometheus smirks.

          “What do you want with me?” Barry asks.

         

          “Easy. To break you.” Prometheus smirks. Before Barry knew it, Prometheus was holding his head under a bucket of water. When he puts his head in the water, Barry starts struggling, instinct taking over as he tries to breathe. Prometheus holds him down for two minutes before he pulls him back up. Barry gasps for air, desperately trying to breathe. Eventually Barry draws in a much-needed breath, and that’s when Prometheus smirks.

          “Tell me, with powers like yours, why do you use them for good?” He asks.

          “Because I could never turn into a monster.” Barry spats. His throat still hurts from being forced under water. Prometheus grabs Barry’s arm, and twists. Barry screams in pain. With these restraints on, his healing won’t kick in as quickly.

          “You might not turn into a monster, but believe me kid, I can show you a monster.” Prometheus spats. Barry screams when he grabs his wrist, and twists it. Barry’s world goes black after that. It was early the next morning when Barry was woken up by cold water being thrown on him. Waking up in a panic, Barry sees Prometheus smirking at him.

          “Wakey Wakey Flash.” He grins. Barry groans. He hasn’t eaten in several hours, and he’s feeling shaky.

         

          “Please, I’m so… I’m so hungry.” Barry pleads. Prometheus shoves food and water in front of him. Barry’s eyes widened when he sees the amount. This would only be enough to feed him for two days, if that. Slowly, Prometheus frees Barry’s arms, allowing him to eat some of the food and drink the water in front of him. Barry eats it as slowly as he can, knowing that he may not get to eat for a while. When he was done, Prometheus chains his arms back, putting the cuffs on his wrists as well. Barry’s arm and wrist were still broken, and it hurts. Prometheus smirked when he sees Barry’s arm and wrist.

          Barry watched as Prometheus turned on a stove on the hottest setting. When the stove was hot enough, he puts a fireplace poker on the stove, waiting for it to turn red before he walks over to Barry. After that, he puts the poker on Barry’s arm, watching as it burned Barry’s skin. Barry screams in pain. Jesus Christ that was hot!

          When Barry’s entire arm was burned, Prometheus shoves him back in the water, watching as Barry struggled against it. When he shoved his head under the water, Barry started panicking. He needs to breathe, oh God, he can’t breathe! Prometheus pulls his head up after two minutes, watching as Barry desperately gasps for air. Prometheus grabs Barry’s other arm, and twists. After that, he grabs his wrist, twisting it as well. Barry screams in pain.

          “Hey kid, what do you say we try something a little different?” Prometheus smirks, and that’s when Barry’s eyes widened: he’d pulled out a scalpel. Barry winced, he knew what was coming next. Prometheus smirks, and starts cutting Barry’s right leg. Barry screams in pain with each slice. Prometheus was carving him up like a piece of meat.

          “Please… I can’t… Ahhh!” Barry pleads to deaf ears. Prometheus eventually stops, making sure to take care of the wound before Barry bleeds out. He can’t have him dying on him, now can he? Barry’s head was spinning. Soon enough, he passes out. When the next morning comes, Barry was once again woken up by cold water being thrown at him. Once again, Prometheus was shoving his head under the water. Prometheus goes for three minutes this time before he pulls Barry out of the water, watching as Barry desperately gasps for air. Barry screamed in pain when Prometheus tightened the chains around his body.

          “Oh, don’t go passing out on me yet. I want to have fun with you.” Prometheus smirks as he grabs the bucket of ice he had brought. When he grabs the ice, he places it directly on Barry’s chest, watching as Barry screams in pain. Barry screams in pain when the ice touches his skin. Fun fact that he didn’t know, when Ice meets skin, it burns like hell.

          “Please, please.” Barry pleads. Prometheus smirks and adds more ice to Barry’s skin. He’s added it to his arms, and legs now, watching as his skin starts to burn. Barry’s screams were beautiful. When all the ice was gone, Prometheus smirks and grabs another scalpel. Soon enough, he’s cutting into Barry’s left leg, carving him like a piece of meat. Barry continues to scream in pain as Prometheus slices into his leg. Eventually he stops, and that’s when Barry winces. He knows that he’s going to cauterize the cuts next. Once the cuts were cauterized, Prometheus turns on the stove, putting it on the highest setting as he once again puts a fire poker on it. Once the poker turns red, he walks over to Barry.

          Instead of burning Barry’s arm, Prometheus uses it to draw a lightning bolt in Barry’s chest. Barry screams in pain as Prometheus burns the design into his chest. Barry was being branded, and it hurts. Prometheus finishes the design after ten minutes, but Barry had passed out long before that.

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

          When the next morning comes, Barry is once again woken up by cold water being thrown at him. Prometheus hadn’t even bothered to tend to the brand he burned on Barry’s chest. How long has he been here anyway? Days, weeks, months? Did anyone even realize that he was missing?

          “Gonna try something different today with you kid.” Prometheus smirks. Barry’s eyes widened when he pulls out a syringe filled with Vertigo. After that, he injects the drug into Barry, having increased the dosage to be high enough to work with him. Barry screams in pain as the drug works its way through his system. He felt like he was being burned alive. Soon enough, Barry starts hallucinating.

          _Barry watched as Prometheus shifted into a version of himself. This version of himself was pale, with solid black eyes replacing the whites in his eyes. Black lightning twisted around his body as he lifts Joe up by his neck. Barry screams when this other version of himself chokes the life out of Joe._

_Barry screams as he watches this other version of himself slaughter his friends one by one, each method more brutal than the last._

         

          _“Do you even know how powerful you are? With speed like that, you could become a God.” Barry’s other-self smirks. The scenery changes, and Barry finds himself sitting on the couch. Suddenly his phone rings, and that’s when he answers it._

_“Hello, is this still the number for Bartholomew Henry Allen?” A voice asks._

_“Barry, and yes.” Barry answers._

_“I’m sorry to inform you that Joe West’s car was found on the side of the road. He was thrown from the car, and he didn’t make it.” The voice informs. Barry drops the phone in shock, and that’s when he starts crying._

_The scenery changes after that, and Barry watches as Prometheus’s face shifts into Zoom’s face._

_“You didn’t think that you’d actually escaped from me, did you?” He smirks. Barry screams at the top of his lungs._

_“Everything that you think has happened since you were rescued by that team of yours? That never happened. You never left.” Zoom smirks._

_“No. No. That can’t be true!” Barry shouts. Team Flash wouldn’t have left him down there with Zoom, there’s no way._

          Prometheus watched, as the drug runs through Barry’s system. Soon enough, his eyes cloud over, and Barry starts hallucinating his worse fears. Barry hasn’t stopped screaming, crying, or muttering since he was injected, which Prometheus can’t lie, he finds very entertaining. The drug eventually leaves Barry’s system after an hour, and he passes out. Barry was covered in sweat after coming down from the Vertigo. Prometheus smirks as he walks over to Barry, gently caressing his arms. He still had him chained, as he couldn’t be bothered to free him. The only mercy the man gave Barry was unchaining him long enough for him to eat, and take care of his bodily needs.

Once those were taken care of, he would chain Barry back up.

          It was early the next morning when Barry was once again woken up by cold water. Barry’s eyes widened as he shoved his head in a larger bucket of water this time. The top half of his body was in the water this time, and he was struggling. Prometheus pulls Barry out of the water after two minutes, smirking as Barry gasps for air. Barry had been forced to get used to sleeping with the lights on, as his captor wasn’t decent enough to turn the lights off after he passes out from the torture he’s been putting him through.

Barry’s eyes widened when he sees him pull out an electric cattle prod.

          “Fun fact about cattle prods, they’re designed so that they can’t give anything more than a low electric shock, but this? Well, I’ve modified it. Let’s see if you can survive electrocution.” Prometheus smirks, and that’s when he presses the electricity against Barry’s exposed back. Barry screams and thrashes around, no doubt in pain from being electrocuted. Being struck by lightning was nothing compared to this. Prometheus eventually stopped using the cattle prod when he grew bored, and Barry was afraid of what he’d do next.

          “You know, you’ve been here with me for a week. It kind of makes you wonder if they’re even looking for you, doesn’t it?” Prometheus smirks.

          “Go… to… hell.” Barry gasps. Barry’s eyes widened as Prometheus grabs him by the neck and starts squeezing. Barry looks at his captor with pleading eyes as he choked him, silently pleading with him to let him go, to let him breathe. It was when Barry’s vision started to sway that Prometheus finally lets him go, and Barry desperately gasps for air.

          “Don’t _ever_ speak to me like that again, you understand?” Prometheus growls, and that’s when Barry nods.

          “Good boy.” Prometheus smirks, and that’s when he starts slicing a knife into Barry’s chest. Barry screams in pain as he starts slicing him like a piece of meat.

          “You are not a hero. If anything, you’re a freak, chasing a high to make himself believe that he’s a hero. You’re a disgrace, everything you, touch you destroy. Everything you do backfires. You’re no hero, you’re a disgrace.” Prometheus snaps. Barry cries out from the pain of being sliced into. Soon enough Prometheus is cauterizing his wounds, making sure that Barry doesn’t bleed out. Once that was taken care of, he places the fire poker on the stove again, watching as it turns red. Barry screams when Prometheus uses it to carve words in Barry’s chest: useless, monster, disgrace, and not a hero.

Barry screams with each word, tears pouring from his eyes as he silently pleads for the pain to stop. Prometheus eventually finishes carving the words into Barry’s chest, but Barry had passed out long after the third word. It was early the next morning when Barry was once again woken up by the cold water. Prometheus didn’t even bother with feeding Barry solid food anymore. Instead, he’s hooked him up to an IV.

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Barry knew what was coming next, the water. Still, it didn’t stop the involuntary reaction of struggling when Prometheus once again shoved him in there. He’d unhooked him from the IV, and after that he held him underwater for two minutes before he pulls Barry’s head up. Barry gasps for much needed air and that’s when Prometheus grew bored. Barry’s wounds healed far too quickly, it wasn’t natural. Prometheus grabs Barry’s arm, and twists. Barry screams at the top of his lungs as he breaks his arm. He watches as he shoves food in front of him.

         “ _Eat_ before I change my mind.” Prometheus growls. Barry didn’t think twice as he ate the food, grateful for some actual nutrition for once. He forces himself to stop eating when he realized that if he ate it all now, he won’t get food for several more hours. Did Prometheus, even realize that he was slowly starving him?

         “I told you to eat.” Prometheus growls.

         “I’m not hungry.” Barry snaps. That was a lie, he was hungry, but if he knew how much Barry really needed to eat, then he might just stop feeding him at all. Prometheus growls. He knew that Barry needed to eat way more than that. If he wasn’t going to obey him, then he’ll make him obey. Prometheus grabs Barry’s wrist, and twists. Barry screams.

         “ _Eat_.” Prometheus growls, and that’s when Barry obeys. His stomach was the boss here, not his brain. When Barry ate enough that he wasn’t sickly looking anymore, Prometheus takes the food away from him.

         “So, you can survive your bones being broken, electrocution, Vertigo, burning. Maybe we should try something different.” Prometheus grins, and that’s when he decides to shoot Barry with arrows. One in his arms, his legs, his back. Barry screamed as each of the arrows were shot into his flesh.

         “Why the hell do you use your abilities for good? With what you can do, you could have everyone bowing at your feet.” He scoffs.

         “No, I don’t want that.” Barry protests. Prometheus hadn’t even bothered to give him the mercy of a dark room to sleep in. Barry isn’t a doctor by any means, but the fact that he can’t feel anything since he’s been chained up is probably a bad sign. Prometheus chuckles as he turns Barry around, and grabs the fireplace poker. After warming it up, he presses it against Barry’s back, smirking as Barry screamed in pain with each brand he inserted into his back.

Barry continues to scream in pain, until finally he can’t take it anymore.

         “You’re right…” Barry gasps. Prometheus smirks and puts the poker down.

         “What’s that?” He asks.

         “You’re right, I do it for the thrill.” Barry answers. Prometheus starts clapping.

         “Now that’s more like it!” He laughs. Smirking, he grabs a knife, and starts carving into the burns. Barry screams even louder, until eventually he passes out. When Prometheus wakes Barry up by the cold water the next morning, Barry knew what was coming next. Soon enough, he’s shoving him in the water. 120, 119, 118, 117, 116, 115, 114, 113, 112, 111, 110, 109, 108, 107, 106, 105, 104, 103, 102, 101, 100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, 87, 86, 85, 84, 83, 82, 81, 80, 79, 78, 77, 76, 75, 74, 73, 72, 71, 70, 69, 68, 67, 66, 65, 64, 63, 62, 61, 60, 59, 58, 57, 56, 55, 54, 53, 52, 51, 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. Prometheus had counted every second before pulling Barry’s head up so he could draw in some much needed air. Prometheus stares at Barry in curiosity when he sees that the burns to Barry’s back hadn’t healed this time.

         “Well now, your wounds didn’t heal this time. That’s interesting.” He smirks. Barry looks at him in silence, silently praying that he would end this soon. He’d given up on anyone coming to rescue him at this point. It’s been a week now, if they were coming to rescue him, they would have been here by now. Barry’s eyes widened when Prometheus grabs the cattle prod. Before he knew it, Prometheus had turned it on, and he’s screaming in pain. When he stops using the cattle prod, Barry’s eyes widened when he pulls out a knife. Soon enough, he’s carving it into his back, arms, and legs.

Eventually, Barry passes out from the pain. When Barry comes to, he hears an arrow hit the walls. Barry’s last thought before he blacked out again was: Oliver, thank God. When Oliver finds Barry, he felt sick. Barry’s back was covered in burns, and cuts. Prometheus had carved him up, and branded him, like an animal. Oliver’s blood boils, and that’s when he grabs Prometheus’s neck.

“I’m _gonna kill you_!” Oliver growls. Before he knew it, he’d snapped Prometheus’s neck. Now that Prometheus was taken care of, Oliver walks over to Barry, slowly taking the dampening cuffs from his wrists. Now that the cuffs weren’t on him anymore, Barry could phase out of his restraints, that is if he were conscious. Sighing, Oliver looks around the room for bolt cutters. When he couldn’t find any, he decides to check the shed outside. Oliver sighs with relief when finds a pair. Once he grabs the bolt cutters, he returns to Barry’s side, slowly getting to work to free him from the chains. Oliver ends up freeing him after an hour, and that’s when he drapes Barry across his shoulders. Oliver frowns, Barry was lighter than he should be, which means that Prometheus had been starving him. He sighs, he couldn’t worry about that right now, right now he needed to get Barry to safety. Oliver takes Barry outside, and that’s when he straps him to his motorcycle, making sure that he was safely protected, and that he wouldn’t fall off as he drives to the Arrow cave.

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

         When Barry comes to, he feels bandages covering most of his body. He wasn't in chains this time, and was that a cot that he was lying on? Slowly, he opens his eyes. When Barry sees all the lights in the room, he starts to panic. He was never rescued from Prometheus, it had all been a dream. Barry's heart starts beating faster, and his heart starts feeling heavy. Soon his throat feels tight, and he can't breathe. Before he knew it, he starts hyperventilating.

         "Hey, hey, hey. _Breathe_ , okay? Just breathe. _You're safe_." Felicity calls, trying to calm him down. Oliver frowns.

         "Felicity, dim some of the lights, he thinks he's still there." He insists. Felicity nods and dims some of the lights. When Felicity dimmed some of the lights, Barry stares at his surroundings in confusion. Where on Earth _was_ he?

         "Barry? Hey, you're okay. You're safe now. No one here is going to hurt you." Felicity calls, making sure to speak in a calm, reassuring voice. She frowns when Barry continues shaking.

         "Hey, hey. It's okay. It's _me_ , Felicity." She says as she gets closer. Barry looks at her in confusion. Was he really free? This _wasn't_ a dream? Felicity frowns.

         "You're at the Arrow cave. You're not there anymore." She informs. Barry slowly closes his eyes, hoping that maybe if he goes to sleep, that he won't be tortured tonight. Tears pour from Oliver's eyes as he sees the state that Barry was in. When Barry wakes up the next morning, he's surprised to see that he's in the Arrow Cave. So, this was real? He really was free? He blinks when Felicity brings him some food, and water.

         "Felicity? That is you, right?" He asks. Felicity frowns.

         "Yes, it's me Barry." She says. She blinks when Barry pulls her in for a hug.

         "Let's check on your wounds, okay?" She asks as she slowly takes the bandages off. Barry's cuts had healed for the most part, but the burns were taking longer to heal.

         "Sorry Barry, I'm gonna have to put some burn cream on you." Felicity apologizes as she puts the cream on Barry. Barry winces when the cream touches his skin.

         "Sorry, I should've warned you." Felicity apologizes.

         "It's fine. It's just cold is all." Barry shrugs. Felicity nods. Barry seemed to be doing a lot better than when they rescued him. Felicity hated seeing him look so scared.

         "Do you think you'd be up to seeing Oliver? He's really worried about you." Felicity asks. Barry frowns. What if he has another episode? He doesn't want Oliver to see him like that.

         "Not right now, please." Barry protests.

         "Okay, that's fine." Felicity tells him. She sighs. She wishes she could help Barry, but she didn't know how. How do you help someone that was being tortured? Barry sighs and covers himself with the blanket. How pathetic was he, that he couldn't even see his _friends_ right now? Tears pour from Barry's eyes. Felicity's heart breaks when Barry starts crying. Barry Allen was a wonderful person, tears should never be pouring from those beautiful eyes. She frowns and wipes the tears from his eyes.

         "Don't cry." She pleads. Barry turns over in the bed, slowly covering himself as he grabs the food that was left on the table for him. At least it was better than being fed with a tray on the floor, or only being fed through an IV. Out of habit, Barry eats the food as slowly as he can, knowing that if he ate it all at once, it would be a while before he could eat again.

         "Barry, it's okay. You can have all the food you want." Felicity tries to reassure him. Barry starts eating faster once he hears that he can have as much food as he wants. Felicity wants to cry. It's not _fair_ that Barry went through the worst torture imaginable. Why couldn't they have found him _sooner_? When Barry eats enough to satisfy his stomach, he slowly goes to sleep.

         Barry wasn't even asleep for three hours before he starts screaming in his sleep. Oliver was up in seconds, running into the med bay when Barry started screaming. Barry was swinging his arms in his sleep, screaming at the top of his lungs from what was no doubt a nightmare. Oliver frowns. He knew from experience that touching someone in the middle of a nightmare would only result in injury.

         "Barry! Barry! _Wake up_!" Oliver calls, desperately trying to wake Barry up from his nightmare. When Barry wakes up, his hands are gripping the sheets, and he's gasping for air.

         "Hey, hey. Easy, _easy_. You're okay now, you're safe. You just had a nightmare." Oliver calls. Barry's heart starts pounding from the nightmare, soon enough, he's hyperventilating.

         "Barry? I need you to _breathe_ , okay? On my count. Ready?" Oliver asks, making sure to speak in a calm, reassuring tone.

         "One… two… three… four… five." Oliver counts. Barry slowly starts matching his breathing to the numbers, following the voice's instructions. When he finally gets his breathing under control, he's surprised to see Oliver in the room.

         "Huh… Oliver?" He asks with confusion. Barry slowly looks around the room. Oh, right. He's in the Arrow Cave. He looks up when Oliver walks over to him.

         "You were screaming in your sleep. Do you want to talk about it?" Oliver asks as he sits next to Barry. Barry frowns as he thinks of his nightmare.

         "I was…back there, with him. He…he was cutting into me and…" Barry's voice trails off.

         "Hey, that's enough. You don't have to tell me anymore." Oliver says.

         "Will you hold me?" Barry asks. Oliver slowly blinks. Barry wanted him to hold him? What does this mean?

         "Earth to Oliver?" Barry asks with concern, slowly waving his hands in his face. _Oh shit. I think I broke him._

         "Hey Oliver!" Barry calls again. This time he starts snapping his fingers in his face.

         "Earth to the Green Arrow?" Barry calls. Still, Oliver doesn't respond.

 

 

 

        

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Oliver, Barry totally broke him with that request.


End file.
